Let’s Go! A Transportation Unit

Happy Sunday! Our neighbors came over last night sort of spontaneously . . . we sat around our fire pit and laughed and talked until the wee hours of the morning. Midnight is considered the wee hours of the morning, right? I mean it was already Sunday when I went to bed! So knowing that we didn’t have church until this evening, it was really nice to sleep in. Murphie was up late, too, and so she slept in, as well. I think we will have her trained in the sleeping department by the time she is two or three or seven years old, surely.

I have been busy re-vamping my Social Studies unit on Transportation. I LOVE LOVE LOVE teaching Social Studies and my kids LOVE LOVE LOVE learning all about whatever we are studying. I am about to teach Matter in Science and I am sad to say that I do not have the same love for it . . . or even like for it . . . I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but I have never liked teaching Matter. I’m just being truthful, people, and it is Sunday so I feel the need to be honest today. Feel free to turn me around on this.

One of our California standards (this was back before Common Core – you know, in the Dark Ages) was to teach our kiddos how transportation has changed over time . . . and now we pretty much continue to do that, but with more of an emphasis on the Common Core standards. My team and I just decided to tie it all in and then I made a few changes to my unit and bam, there you go. We covered cars, boats, aircraft, trains, and spacecraft, which I saved for last because the kids go crazy for it.

Why the hello kitty are my pages looking gray?

They are NOT gray, people.

They are white.

The Venn Diagrams also come without a word bank just in case you want to “up” the rigor. There are half and full pages for writing. I used both for my kids depending on their level.

Yes, I differentiated. Teacher of the Year, what what!

No, I’m not teacher of the year. I just tend to act like it when I differentiate and use the word differentiate correctly.

Here are some samples of my kids’ work. And yes, I chose the best ones because they’re pretty! And they make me look good. And they’re not embarrassing. I mean, why would I show you a picture of a boat in the sky? I wouldn’t, that’s why.

We also sorted vehicles by land, water, or air.

We used the same sorting cards for a Questioning activity. I had a student pick a card (in a “pick a card, any card” kind of way) and then the rest of the students asked questions to figure out what type of vehicle they might be.

For example: Do you float? Do you fly? Do you have wings? Do you use hot air? Etc.

They loved it!

We did this cut and paste activity which would work really well with interactive journals (I’m not there yet, but hopefully soon because that might make me look like T of the Y too):

For centers, we did this graphing activity:

At the end of the unit, we made driver’s licenses since they were experts!!

And since I can’t show you their photos, I made a sample:

But, if you wanted, you could also make passports and put a stamp or a sticker on each page after students learned about a new vehicle:

(spacecraft is on page 2)

We made driver’s licenses because I like to play Red Light, Green Light at the end of the unit. And when those same sneaky kids try to go on a Red Light (because they’re super competitive and act like there is a prize or something at the finish line when there never is and I don’t know why they think there is), I pull them over and ask to see their license and registration.

And then I give them a ticket and they have to sit down.

Just Kidding. Sort of.

Here’s the whole preview, although I feel like I just showed you every single pic on my camera . . .

It’s on sale for 20% off today, along with everything else in my store, AND if you use the promo code FB100K at checkout, TpT is giving you another 10% off because they reached 100K followers on Facebook.

So you’ll get it for 30% off, if I’m doing the math correctly.

I will also give away 3 copies if you leave your email address in a comment. I’ll announce the winners tomorrow night!

Enjoy your Sunday!

PS The Dodgers lost again. The game was 1-0 and at one point, we had the bases loaded with only 1 out.

I had to drown my sorrows in Fritos and Ranch dip, people. I sure hope they do better at home.

How adorable was the student work?!? Just connected with you though The Perks of Teaching Primary linky. I am doing a Halloween Treat Bag Exchange. Please visit my blog to check it out and share with your friends. I think it will be a lot of fun! http://ateaspoonofteaching.blogspot.com/

I am getting ready to start student teaching in a first grade classroom in November…and I have been reading your site like crazy. I love your sense of humor – not to mention your awesome lessons. Thanks for providing great ideas and fun reads. 🙂

Warning: The account for ateenytinyteacher needs to be reconnected.Due to Instagram platform changes on June 1, 2020, this Instagram account needs to be reconnected to allow the feed to continue updating. Reconnect on plugin Settings page